Graduate and Research Programs

Note: While these sites may contain information of value to you, the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library (SSHEL) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign do not endorse the sites or the information they contain. For more information and current research on rankings, we encourage you to read some of the articles listed in our College Rankings Bibliography and to see our Caution and Controversy page. For questions or comments, please contact Nancy O’Brien.

Customized Graduate Program RankingsMethodology: An explanation of the resources used in this ranking can be found on the About the Data Sources page.
Using data taken from the National Research Council’s print publication Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States: Continuity and Change, this site offers users the opportunity to customize the NRC’s rankings of science, engineering, humanities and social science departments. One can assign varying weights to ranking criteria and generate lists more closely matching an individual’s personal requirements in a graduate department. For an overview of the National Research Council study, please see the Research-Doctorate Programs web page for an overview of the National Research Council study, or the Executive Summary for a delineation of the study’s methodology. A copy of the most recent findings is available in SSHEL’s reference section (378.1550973 D262).

The Philosophical Gourmet Report: Ranking of Graduate Programs in Philosophy in the English Speaking WorldMethodology: An explanation of this site’s methodology can be found on a page titled Methods and Criteria.
This site has much to offer both to philosophy students and faculty as well as to individuals generally interested in rankings. Prospective philosophy students will find a treasure trove of information at this site which ranks graduate programs in philosophy in the United States. Separate, although smaller, lists give the rankings for universities in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Detailed descriptions of departmental strengths are given, along with listings of “up and coming” departments, faculty moves, and graduates’ job placements. The site includes a separate list ranking Top Research Universities, ranked according to the overall quality, scope, and number of outstanding programs at the university. Additionally, a very thoughtful discussion titled What the rankings mean recognizes ways to interpret the rankings.

Social Psychology Network: NRC Ranking of U.S. Psychology Ph.D. ProgramsMethodology: Uses the “quality score” from the 1995 study conducted by the National Research Council published by the APS Observer in January, 1996.Social Psychology Network uses the rankings from National Research Center’s Rankings of U.S Psychology Ph.D. Programs (1995) to display the top 185 psychology Ph.D. programs in the U.S. This site also links to other national and international rankings in various psychology related programs.

StudentsReview.com: Graduate SchoolMethodology: This site offers an explanation of its rankings on a page titled Rankings Methodology
This site provides ratings and critiques of universities based on surveys collected from undergraduate and graduate students. The participants evaluate their universities based on questions in three categories: Department, University, and Social/Interactive. Please note that this is not a scientific sampling, but offers anecdotal reviews (positive and negative) of universities.

Top 50 Best Value Graduate SchoolsMethodology: This site offers an explanation of its rankings on the Methodology: How We Get Our Numbers page.
This site lists the top 50 best value graduate schools based on the highest return of investment for residential graduate schools. Online programs are not considered. The following three criteria were required to be met for a school to be considered for this list: “U.S. schools that are nationally or regionally accredited, transparent reports of ROI and tuition data, and at least three residential graduate programs offered.”

Top American Research UniversitiesMethodology: The rankings methodology is located in the rankings PDF.
This report identifies the top public and private research universities in the United States based upon nine quality measures. Universities are clustered and ranked according to total and federal research funding, endowment assets, annual giving, National Academy membership, prestigious faculty awards, doctorates awarded, postdoctoral appointees, and SAT scores of entering freshmen. Also available are lists of the top 200 public and private universities on each quality measure. The site includes other reports and resources on measuring university performance. The report and web-based data are updated annually in mid-summer.

U.S. News and World Report Graduate School RankingsMethodology:U.S. News offers an explanation of its rankings here: About the Best Graduate Schools Rankings. Included are both general and discipline-specific methodologies (e.g. business, education, engineering, etc.).
U.S. News and World Report offers rankings of graduate programs in several disciplines. The rankings are presented along with the methodology used to generate them. This site also contains links to general information about admittance to graduate school, test information, and articles about schools and programs noted in the survey.